New Hearts manager Derek McInnes believes wingers will be key to a successful Tynecastle team as he continues shaping his squad for next season. McInnes has found success in the past by deploying pacey wide men with a good delivery with his former clubs Aberdeen and Kilmarnock. At Pittodrie, he utilised Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn, while at Rugby Park, Danny Armstrong and Matty Kennedy became key players for him. Many Hearts fans have lamented the team's lack of width this season, so McInnes' desire to focus on that area of the pitch will be welcomed at Tynecastle. Hearts have already secured one winger for the 2025/26 campaign in the shape of Greek 24-year-old Alexandros Kyziridis, while they have been persistently linked with Kazakhstan internationalist Islam Chesnokov from FC Tobol in his homeland. "I've always liked to play the wingers," said McInmes/ All my teams have had pace and wide players. I do think with the tightness of the pitch here at Tynecastle, it's even more relevant and important that you have good wide players. Players that can isolate people and have that pace. "I do think that having pace, having physicality, having intensity, having physicality, aggression on your team is so important for a Hearts team. "My best teams have always had good physicality about them, goal scorers who score 20-odd goals a season, and good wide players. That's not going to change, and I think it's important we try and find those players, if they're not here already. "At Aberdeen, I've inherited a couple of really good wingers, McGinn and Hayes. But even after Johnny and Niall left, we always tried to continue that. At Kilmarnock, something similar in terms of, I've always tried to commit to two wingers and two strikers. And basically, the reason we committed to two strikers is we didn't have the ability to sign a 20-plus goal a season striker. We didn't have the resource to do that. So we decided, or I decided, that we'd work with two then and you might get your 20-odd goals from two. "So we committed, plain and simple, to having two strikers. And the majority of the time, two wingers on the pitch. I like wingers, I like pace, I like people who can unlock teams. "I think nine teams out of the league would probably come here to Tynecastle and maybe sit in and say, go on, break us down. And for that, I think you need all the answers. And I think wide players with pace and creativity are vital to that." McInnes has already spoken about why he wants a Scottish core within his Hearts team and says he will construct a squad that is capable of dealing with the demands of the Premiership. "Playing in Scottish football, you've got to be so pragmatic," he continued. "Through all the seasons, the toughness of winters and all the rest of it, sometimes you can't always be brilliant, but you've always got to be competitive. At times, I've just got to make sure that my Hearts team is competitive every game. I do think at Tynecastle, having pace, good players that handle the ball, middle of the park, technical ability, and hopefully goal scorers." After a season of underachievement, with Hearts finishing seventh in the Premiership and missing out on Europe, McInnes knows that the fanbase is expectant. He wants to earn the "trust" of the Tynecastle crowd and that he will not accept "bad practice" from his players. "I don't want to come in here and shout from the hip, we're going to do this and we're going to do that," added McInnes. "I just think we've got to work confidently, quietly, under the radar. We don't need to drum up, the fans are there. They're just waiting for it. They're just waiting for something to happen really. And we just need to get their trust and I need to earn that trust. The players need to earn that. And they need to know that when they turn that every week, they've got a team who are going to compete. "We want to be brilliant every week. The Scottish league doesn't always allow that. And when you're working with players, you've got to accept as a manager, you know your players aren't going to be tip top every weekend. But what they can be is committed and driven, motivated. And that's the only way I work with players who are that. I'll not accept bad practice. I'll not accept lazy days. And the fans need to know that when they've got a team there that represents them well, it's my intention to give them that team."